European referee chiefs urge VAR only for blatant errors

Chief refereeing officers from all 55 European national football associations, along with Uefa and IFAB representatives, met to address the use of Video Assistant Referees (VAR). They agreed that VAR should only be used to correct 'blatantly incorrect' decisions or clear missed incidents, returning to the original philosophy of 'minimum interference, maximum benefit' established in 2018. The officials criticized 'lengthy, microscoping reviews' as a sign that the on-field decision was not clearly wrong. The meeting also clarified the 'mistaken identity' rule for cautions and red cards, and expressed unanimous support for recent rule changes to reduce delays, including time limits on goal-kicks, throw-ins, and substitutions.